Keating Injures Knee In Final Performance With Cenius

Editor’s note: This story is developing, and I will update as I find out more details. I’ll have videos and photos from FMF up later today, hopefully. Also, the end of this reads sort of like an obituary, which is creepy even to me. It’s not, just some background detail for the CCR readers who aren’t familiar with Keating’s work.

What was, overall, an exceptional Free Music Friday ended on a note of concern and triumph halfway through the last act of the night. Lead guitarist Shea Keating injured his knee halfway through the band’s performance.

Cenius took the stage to close out the show, featuring the last performance with lead guitarist Shea Keating. In the middle of a blistering set, Keating suddenly collapsed to the stage.

Shea Keating performs immediately after injuring his knee during a Cenius performance Friday, July 24.

While on the stage floor, Keating continued playing his guitar, so some people in the audience thought it was part of the act, especially as Keating is known for his physicality on stage (he’s a metal guitarist, after all).

But when he didn’t get up, people began to realize something was wrong. Details are sketchy at the moment, and CCR doesn’t yet know the extent of the injury, but Keating seemed to have injured his knee.

Several people went to the stage, and Keating’s knee was wrapped with an ice packet, and he finished the set. Immediately after the show, he was taken to the hospital for examination, at 1 a.m. in the morning.

Keating was one of, if not the hardest working musician in Coles County before returning to his hometown of Chicago in May, 2015.

At one point he was performing in three or four bands at one time, depending on which week it was.

He was the lead guitarist for Victim to Victor, Carlos Danger’s Inbox, Cenius, and Keating, Etc. He also sang vocals and contributed original songs to Victim and Keating, Etc. (Disclosure: I performed with Keating in CDI and Keating, Etc.)

A frequent presence at Jackson Avenue Coffee’s Open Mic Night, he was known best for an acoustic metal sound, his humorous ode to coffee shops, “Don’t Give A Frap,” and a cover of “Brains.”

For those who go to watch live music, this is just a reminder (as was the recent case with Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters) that the stage can be a dangerous place, and it’s no respecter of wealth or status when it bites back.